Friday, January 21, 2011

First of all, I have never been more excited about anything, than I am about this new graphic. In fact, that is probably why I am starting these Fetus Fridays up so soon. Frankly, there isn't much to report other than life continuing on as usual - the first few weeks (for me at least) are relatively uneventful, but now that I have this stinking hilarious Fetus Friday Graphic, it was pretty much the point of no return for The Pregnant Unsinkable. You know I can't resist a picture that is both funny and of questionable taste.

Anyway, on to the show!

Week: 5

Weight Gain: Meh, nothing other than the usual fluctuation due to water and copious amounts of Oreos. Dude I could have eaten a HORSE yesterday. I had Chick Fil A for lunch and when I was finished I sat there and thought that a second meal wasn't out of the question.

Aches & Pains: It's early days yet (obviously) but so far so good. I've only been sick a few times and those have been after fairly explainable events like taking my horse sized Super Mom vitamin on a more empty than not stomach. I'm crossing my fingers that I'm not as sick as I was with Allie, but if the pattern holds I will only be more sick. I was not sick with Tot, a little sick with David, and hugely sick with Allie. Not looking good for the Baby Noodle. Other than that, just the tell-tale signs of pregnancy - I can feel my joints loosening up and my right hip has occasional sharp shooting pain down my leg. Again, par for the course right now. I haven't hit that first trimester wall of exhaustion but I see it coming in the near future.

Totally Cool Developments: Dude, I AM PREGNANT! That is the best development of them all. I can't begin to explain how happy I am about this. This will be our last, unless God intervenes with a gigantic surprise sometime later in our lives, and I am trying to soak up every moment. I swear I stared at that pregnancy test for five minutes straight before I ran into our bedroom and jumped on a very sleeping Dave while yelling "I'M PREGNANT! I'M PREGNANT!!!" I am so thankful that I've had three healthy pregnancies and three healthy children and I pray this one is the same. I am so very, very thankful and aware of how big a blessing these little people are.

Belly Shot: You have Dave to thank for this first and "Official" Five Week pic. He is my picture taker and thought we needed to utilize the white board for maximum effect. Obviously, there isn't much of a belly, but DUDE, my stomach muscles must have seen that positive test and immediately went into vacation mode because I've got zero muscle tone. Hello Maternity Pants.

Do forgive the cheesy grin and the odd hand placement.

For the record, that is my tank top, not my bra. Also, that is the most comfortable skirt on the planet.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Pages: 352Amazon.com Summary:"Andie Miller is ready to move on in life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, he asks one final favor of her before they go their separate ways forever. A very distant cousin of his has died and left North as the guardian of two orphans who have driven out three nannies already, and things are getting worse. He needs a very special person to take care of the situation and he knows Andie can handle anything.

When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren’t your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What’s worse, Andie’s fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right. Andie’s dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house. And that’s not the only haunting.

What follows is a hilarious adventure in exorcism, including a self-doubting parapsychologist, an annoyed medium, her Tarot-card reading mother, an avenging ex-mother-inlaw, and, of course, her jealous fiancé. And just when she thinks things couldn’t get more complicated, North shows up on the doorstep making her wonder if maybe this time things could be different between them.

If Andie can just get rid of all the guests and ghosts, she’s pretty sure she can save the kids, and herself, from the past. But fate might just have another thing in mind… "Review:

So, obviously this isn't The Year of Living Biblically. While I have high hopes of reading mostly books that have stout literary value, let's be honest, sometimes you just want a good mindless read. Enter Maybe Next Time and my mind being a little too excited about babies to read anything too deep.

First of all, I really like this author. While she generally includes more ... adult... content than I would prefer in a book, she writes such great characters and incredibly funny dialog. The books are funny in a way that a conversation with a friend you've known forever is funny and she doesn't explain her jokes. There is nothing more irritating to me than when someone is writing a character that quotes moves or songs and then endlessly has that character immediately say where the quote is from. Unless you are Michael Scott, no one does that in real life. No one says "Man, I was having the worst day. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. That's from Ghostbusters, by the way." Seriously, that is my worst book pet peeve. That and writing "for" when you really want to say "because". Crusie writes modern dialogue in a way that doesn't make you think that she thinks you are an idiot.

I digress.

So, Crusie's specialty seems to be characters that are particularly zany but not in an annoying way. She really fleshes out each person well and you don't feel like you are reading a Nora Roberts book or a Harlequin novel. I absolutely loved the mom and mother-in-law in this book and the medium. All were very funny in their own right and no one was too over the top or one note. And the fact that the entire book is about ghosts and a haunted house makes it even better.

That being said, Crusie can lay the s-e-x stuff on thick sometimes. This particular book only had one scene that was easily skipped through and the rest of the book was good enough that flipping through that page or two wasn't a deal breaker. That really is the case with most of her books (except Welcome to Temptation, which while hilarious, has much much more *adult* content, even if it's funny).

I read this in the course of a single night and couldn't put it down, it was so fun. It is by no means a book that will stretch your mind or make you think about anything, really, but it's a great beach read or cold night read or my brain is fried because I'm so stoked that I'm pregnant read. The Unsinkable's Final Rating: I recommend this book to readers who are cool with flipping past a sex scene or two and who really, really like to laugh and who think ghosts are funny.

Up Next: The Year of Living Biblically. No no, I mean it this time. And maybe another Crusie book I got at the library just in case my brain is still on Baby Baking mode :)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

"Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere." from Amazon

Review:

After initially thinking that I wanted to do a super long review on each book that I read during this challenge, I'm going to decline that route and make this short, sweet, and to the point.

I loved this book. I realized while reading it that not only did I love it because of the format (I'm a fan of most epistolary novels anyway, just because I hate to dig through boring back story and the letter format makes it seem more genuine), I loved this because the entire book just seemed so . . . clever. There are authors that write such beautiful prose but the total work is still a bore. There are also authors that write compelling stories, but their writing is abysmal (i.e. Twilight). Mark Dunn seems to have accomplished both lovely word-smithing (that's probably not a word) and good story-crafting (also not a word).

While this wasn't one of those books that you simply can't put down, it was a truly fun read and I really, really liked the process of each letter dropping out of the novel. By the end of the book, while you are still wrapped up in the story, most of you is sitting there in awe of how the author is still telling a coherent and engaging tale without using three quarters of the alphabet.

The Unsinkable's Final Rating: I heartily recommend this book for anyone that enjoys clever literary devices and light political satire.

Monday, January 03, 2011

I noticed last year that my reading had taken a nosedive. Not only was I not reading anything very good, I wasn't reading very much at all! For someone who, upon seeing a list marked "Favorite Activities", always puts "Reading" first - this was unacceptable.

Obviously, part of the problem is that I have three kids and I homeschool. I do a lot of reading, it's just not reading for me. I read lots of board books, children's books, early readers, and read alouds - but my Grown Up reading has been sadly lacking.

I was browsing a message board I frequent, when I saw a post titled "52 Books in 52 Weeks".

"Ludicrous." I thought. "Who has that kind of time?"

Well, I could probably do it if all I read were Harlequin novels. Or Chick-lit. Or Children's Books. Or magazines. But actual books with actual literary merit? Nope, not a chance. I have laundry to do, you know.

But there was a niggle in the back of my head that was asking, nay, pleading that I take part in this challenge. It had been so long since my intellect was poked or prodded beyond what I was currently teaching my kids and even longer since I dared to step outside my usual reading genres (Chick Lit. Children's Books. Magazines. No, not Harlequin novels.) and it was time to take the leap.

So, off I started on browsing and questioning and list making trying to find good books to read during the coming year. Books that weren't stupid, that made me think, or that were just fantastic representations of their genre. Friends suggested, online lists were consulted, and finally a list was (mostly) completed.

Each month I'll pick out 4 or 5 books from my master list and get them started. While my aim is to read a book a week, some of them are much longer than others and I may have to fudge a little on the time frame - no need drive myself anymore nuts than I already am.

Each week, I'll post a review of the book that I most recently finished and let you know if it was the best thing I've ever read or just crap. I may have to come up with some sort of rating system and you can bet your hind parts that "Total Crap" will be the lowest rating :)

Saturday, January 01, 2011

(I know!! A picture of Dave and I where we aren't acting like loons. A miracle.)

(This was literally the best picture we took. So sad.)

We here at The Unsinkable's had a great 2010. The Tot started 1st Grade, Little David became - in his own words and preference - Medium Sized David, and the Gator turned one. Dave has really hit his stride at his job and I'm feeling more and more comfortable and complete while homekeeping and homeschooling. Not too shabby for a single year!

2011, however, I have big plans for. I want to GROW this year. I want to grow in patience, in health, in wisdom, and in closeness to God and my family. I want to look back at this time next year and be able to say that, yes, I grew. I grew like a rock star and I am better than ever equipped to do the work God has placed before me.

And what better way to grow than to resolve to do so? (I know, not the greatest transition sentence, but work with me here, my mad blogging skillz are a little rusty.)

Since most of these goals require a lot of time and brain power, I'm going to keep the broad strokes and not go into specifics. I mean, I know how I want to go about eating healthier, but I find that making one of my resolutions be "Have a green smoothie for lunch everyday" will only set me up to really not want to drink those anymore and only consume Chick Fil A for the rest of eternity (not a bad prospect, but still).

So there you have it, a little growing, a little moving and grooving, and a few more posts from your Old Pal, The Unsinkable.